The Beatles at Abbotsfield Park, Urmston

As they were getting big enough to be mobbed The Beatles played along with two other acts at Abbotsfield Park in Urmston (about a one hour drive from Liverpool). On a Sunday afternoon heading out to find some graves I called to have a quick look. The lads played here on the annual bank holiday on Monday 5th August 1963.

No photos of the performance exist but there are three photos of the lads before they played. In August '63 they were quickly rising to stardom but honoured concerts booked months before they were well known outside Liverpool. Their manager Brian Epstein ensured they fulfilled their contractual obligations and played for the originally-agreed fee. The lads had to hide in shed before being smuggled on stage in a gardening truck. They played for twenty minutes.

A summer show had been put on every year by the local council (known as The Urmston Show) but the local youths were a little tired of the vegetable growing competitions, crafts tents and dog obedience demonstrations. They wanted to hear some of the new ‘beat’ music and the council listened and booked a little-known Beatles in the autumn of 1962. By the time the lads played on this local field their popularity had exploded across the country. They’d stopped playing songs by other bands and had written their own. Two hits had raced up the charts - Please Please Me and From Me To You - and they were about to embark on a tour of North America. There was talk of the lads not appearing due to security concerns but in the end they did.

It’s thought they played a new song they’d been working on called All My Loving which had been recorded six days earlier. Johnny Martin and the Tremors were supposed to play after The Beatles but they were frightened of hysterical fans breaking their instruments decided not to play.

There’s little to see nowadays at Abbotfield Park. The hub of activity comes from a shop and the mini rail station where the small steam trains are maintained. When the lads arrived at Urmston they were taken to the allotments before being shoved in a shed to stop their hair and clothes being ripped by ardent fans. The lads were moved in a council green box van to the stage. At some point George Harrison was able to walk to a shop for some Jelly Babies. I'm not sure if any of the building there now ere there in 1963.

I stood where the marquee probably stood to give the broadest view to the rest of the field. Hopefully in the future some photos of the day will appear. Oh well, time to go. It was 50p to do a lap on one of the trains (can’t remember the last time I was on a train.) I did a salute and left.